This study reflects on solidarity in the practice of family medicine in two realities. The objective is to search for solidarity as an ethical principle in the relationship between family doctor and subject. It is a descriptive exploratory research carried out in Florianópolis, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and in the Province of Rome, Lazio Region, Italy. It included fourteen Brazilian family doctors and fifteen Italian family doctors. The theoretical framework consisted of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of Symbolic Power. The results show the importance of the role of the family doctor in the materialization of this ethical principle, as a spokesman for scientific knowledge and as an agent of a State policy. Solidarity was understood within distinct domains and the discursive productions also demonstrated the negation of solidarity in such practice. Globalization proved to be a contemporary challenge for an ethical practice of family medicine that is marked by solidarity.